Restless
by prairie-one
Summary: Ponyboy has to face the skeletons in his closet sooner or later. Three years after Johnny’s death, an old acquaintance moves to town that Pony never thought he’d see again. No Slash, No Mary Sue.
1. The Letter

**Prologue**

The Letter

Disclaimer- I am not S.E. Hinton, nor do I own any of her characters. That said, the plot, Rae, Tanya, and Allan, along with any other minor characters are mine. This goes for all chapters.

_Dear Tanya,_

_I know I haven't talked to you in two years. Johnny is dead. His funeral is on Thursday. It would mean the world to me if you and Rae could make it. Johnny always loved it when Rae came to visit._

_Love Lucinda._

Rae read the weathered piece of paper again and sighed. It was three years ago that her mother had received that letter, three years since life had felt normal. And it could never be normal again. Rae's mother was moving across the country- to a new job at St. George's Hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma; to the one thing Rae could never handle:

Blame and Grief.


	2. Neighbours

**Chapter One**

Neighbors

The sidewalk had terrible cracks in it. Sometimes, she was scared that she was going to trip, but kept on running. She ran by the same houses every morning- all of them had peeling paint, ramshackle gates, and untrimmed hedges. Rae Lynn Fallows had lived in Tulsa, Oklahoma for one week, and had yet to meet anyone, except for the occasional mailman. Today was different. Today was the day that Ponyboy Curtis also decided to go for a run. He headed west, the rising sun heating his back. Rae was headed east; she always liked sunrises. Today was the day the two teen's paths literally crossed.

Ponyboy was too busy becoming lost in his own thoughts that he didn't see the brunette jogging towards him. Rae had been staring at the cracks, being careful not to catch her foot on one. When she heard footsteps approaching, she looked up, shocked to see another human being, let alone a teenager, up at 7:00 on a summer morning. Unfortunately, she picked the wrong time to look up. Her sneakers tripped over a large hunk of cement pushed up by a tree root. She heard herself yelp, and watched herself hit the ground like so many times before. Rae was such a klutz, she was used to the out-of-body falling experiences.

"Damn it!" She cried as she saw the open diagonal of blood spilling onto her knee. Rae hated having scars, or even open cuts. It always led to a lot of questions from her mother.

"Hey, are you alright?" Ponyboy turned when her heard her yelp, and jogged back to where she was. He stopped and looked down at her. She looked somewhat familiar.

"Ya, I'm golden." Rae stood up, and winced from the pain. "This happens to me quite a bit, believe it or not." She smiled shyly. "I'm Rae," she dusted off her hand on her shorts and stuck it out towards the boy.

He accepted it. "I'm, uh...Ponyboy Curtis." Seventeen years, and he had yet to get over introducing himself.

Rae raised her eyebrows, and grinned a little wider, biting her bottom lip. "That's a new one. Man, your parents must be cool."

Ponyboy sighed. "Yah. I got a brother named Sodapop." It had only been three years since he had told Cherry that at the movies.

"Nice. My mom was never one for originality." Realizing that she was still gripping the boy's hand, she let hers fall limply to her side. "So, do you live around here? I've never seen you out running before."

"Uh, yah, beside that house on the corner, the white one. What about you?" Ponyboy idly asked while attempting to push memories of that night into the vault of his memories.

Rae nodded. "Yah, actually two down and one across. Near my crazy cousin. Her son was killed in an accident three years ago, and she's never been the same ever since." Pony stared at her, then walked away. Rae ran to catch up with him.

"Woah, are you ok? Did I say something wrong?" She grabbed his shoulder to turn him around, despite the fact that the two were total strangers.

"It wasn't just an accident ok? He was a hero. He saved a bunch of little kids' lives, and mine too. Have some respect for the dead." Ponyboy wrenched himself away from her strong grasp, and jogged home. Rae stared at his retreating back, then crossed the street and went home to start her day.

Once he got home, Pony flopped onto his bed, a million thoughts running through his mind. _"How dare she! She's Johnny's cousin, and she acts like she doesn't even care!"_ The angry teen through a pillow at the door, which was opening at the same time.

"Hey, watch it kid." Soda walked in, wearing nothing but a pair of jeans. "What's your problem?" He rooted around underneath Pony's bed and around random places in the room, looking for his DX shirt.

"Johnny's cousin. She talks about what happened like it was no big deal." Like Marcia did, that night at the movies. Pony tried to make another memory retreat into the recesses of his mind.

"What? Johnny's cousin? Now you aren't even making sense." Soda found his shirt underneath a pile of Pony's school books.

"You heard me. Apparently she's related to Johnny's mom." Pony spat angrily. "I guess they just moved here or something''; I dunno." Steve's horn sounded from outside.

"Geez kid, cool off. Listen, I gotta go, or I'll be late for work. But take it easy on the kid. She's probably hurting just as much as you are." With that, Soda ran out of the room, and jumped into Steve's truck.

Pony grumbled. "Oh well. I'll deal with her when school starts again."

Rae opened the front door. Her mother was in her bedroom, putting away some clothes. "Hey honey," Tanya turned at her daughter's footsteps. "How was your run?"

Rae shrugged. "Alright, I guess. I met Johnny's best friend, we didn't hit it off to well."

Tanya lightly smiled. "Well, remember, he's a man. And men are stubborn. He'll come around- he'll probably just fume for a few weeks."


	3. The Whole Story

**Chapter Two**

The Whole Story 

And fume he did. Ponyboy refused to do anything that summer that meant he might come into contact with Rae. But on the first day of school, he saw her making her way into the high school. Pony prayed that they weren't in the same grade. He had to take Grade 10 again- the only class he had passed was English.

But they were- Grade 11a. They took almost all of the same classes. When the homeroom teacher introduced her to the class, Pony just looked at his notebook, and doodled in the margins. He ignored her all during the breaks and lunch, no matter how hard she tired to talk to him. Finally, the last bell rang .

"BOYS!" She seethed, slamming the door of her locker. A girl in a yellow sweater standing at the locker beside Rae's turned. She had long blonde hair and glasses.

"Are you alright?" The girl asked, seeming concerned.

"Yah, I'm just mad at this one guy I know. Kinda." The blonde girl's eyes lit up.

"Oooh, who?? Do you have a crush on him?" Rae looked at her, raised an eyebrow and leaned away.

"Ponyboy Curtis. And no. We've exchanged maybe ten words, and then he kinda yelled at me and left." The girl nodded and grinned.

"Yah, that's just how he is. Ever since he had to run from the cops after his friend knifed a guy in the park, he's been all moody and elusive. Isn't it dreamy." Rae continued to look at her, wondering if she was for real or not.

"Right, well you might say that. Or, you might say he's rude and obnoxious. Nice talking to you." And with that Rae walked out the high school doors home.

Pony was in his room when Soda burst in. "You know that girl that you hate even though you don't know her? Yah, she's here and wants to talk to you." Soda grinned. The girl had already yelled at him, and figured that a feisty girl like that could only be interesting.

Pony turned to look at his older brother. "I'm not talking to her." Soda rolled his eyes.

"Fine, I will. I'll be polite to her. She lost someone who was important to her too, ya know." He stepped out of the room, closing the door behind him.

"See what I told you? So rude, he won't even look at me." Rae sat on the warped living room couch and crossed her arms.

"Well, how much did he tell you?" Soda plopped into the chair across from her and flung his leg over the sides.

"Um, not much. Something that Johnny was a hero and that I should have respect for the dead. It didn't make much sense to me." Soda nodded.

"Well, I'm going to tell you the whole story…" Rae was a very receptive audience. She was nearly in tears by the time Soda was done with his tale. "…and that was three years ago, and Pony has never been the same."

Rae got up and walked over to Pony's bedroom door, trying hard to maintain a cool composure. "Ponyboy? I'm sorry about what you went through, ok? But I didn't burn the church, or shoot Dally, or knife Bob. You can't be mad at me because of that, or because Johnny was my cousin." With that said, she turned and walked out of the house after saying goodbye to Soda.

After about an hour, Pony stepped out of his room, and grabbed a whole chocolate cake out of the freezer. Soda laughed. "Man, I know chocolate is comfort food, but that's a bit much." Pony glared at him, and walked out of the house.


	4. Making Amends

**Chapter Three**

Making Amends

Rae was in the living room of her house, lying down on the couch and listening to The Doors when there was a knock on the front door. She got up and walked over to the door. "Who is it?"

"Ponyboy," came a disgruntled reply. "Can I come in."

Rae smiled. "Only of you have an apology and some chocolate boy." She opened the door. A shocked smile lit up her face as she spotted the cake in his hands.

Ponyboy hastily shoved it into her hands. "An entire cake. We generally have one on hand, for breakfast." He stepped into the small, ramshackle house. Although it had been two weeks since the Fallows had moved in, there were still boxes all over the place.

"Breakfast?" Rae asked incredulously. "Your parents are awesome!" She shut the door behind him. "So, I'm assuming that you didn't just come here to give me your breakfast." She set the cake on the kitchen table, then flopped back on the couch.

Ponyboy sighed. "Alright, I'm sorry. I guess you were right. I'm sorry that I made it seem like I was the only one who lost Johnny." He avoided Rae's gaze, knowing that her brown eyes that looked so much like her cousin's would make him break down again.

"Damn straight." she smiled at him. "Apology accepted." Rae looked around, wondering what to say to fill the awkward silence.

Suddenly Pony spoke. "Remember that summer when you came down…I was hanging out at Johnny's and you came running up those porch steps. Yah, you tripped and landed on your face."

Rae turned bright red. "I'm glad that I have been remember for my finer moments. Well, I remember that I threw a rock at you. So…there." She childishly stuck her tongue out at him.

Pony laughed. "I remember too. I still have the scar to prove it." He lifted up some of the hair that fell into his eyes to reveal a small circular scar right below his hairline.

Rae grimaced. "Taught 'cha a lesson, didn't it? Don't laugh at me when I fall down."

Ponyboy just shook his head. "I know, I was such a mean kid." Rae laughed.

"No worries- so was I."

Eventually Rae found the note her mother left her on the kitchen table.

_Rae,_

_I'm off to work. There's stuff in the cupboards to make supper. There should be some hamburger around here somewhere. _

_Love Mom_

"Pony, wanna stay for supper? I am so sick of eating alone." Rae started to root around the cupboards to find the burger buns.

Pony shook his head. "Can't. I need to help Darry with dishes and stuff. You can probably come over if you want."

Rae looked at him. "Whose Darry? Your brother?" Pony nodded.

"Yah, it's just me, Soda and Darry. Our parents died a few years back."

"Aw, I'm sorry Pony." She said genuinely. "If you want, I can cook for you guys. I've been doing it since I was 12, so I'm pretty good, if I do say so myself."

"Alright. Let me just phone them up." Ponyboy dialed the phone and Rae continued to look in the cupboard for enough food.

"I'm sorry that we forced ourselves upon you Rae." Darry told her after he finished his third burger.

"It's no problem. It's nice having so many people around the table. Usually it's just me and my mom." She cleared her and Darry's plates while Pony and Soda scarfed down the remaining food. After they were done their supper, Darry made Pony stay and help Rae with the dishes while they went home.

"Man, sometimes I think that it'd be easier just to drop out and get a job like Darry and Soda." Pony grumbled as he dried a plate.

"Are you kidding?" Rae exclaimed. "So much responsibility- trust me, if you dropped out, your brother would probably just make you do more chores. Honestly, I'm surprised how easy you get off; I guess it's because there's three of you. Me and mom made a deal- if I stay in school and do most of the chores, I get fifty bucks a month and a late curfew. It works pretty good."

"Most of the chores? Like what?" Pony asked curiously.

"Not much," Rae shrugged. "Just all the laundry, dishes, cooking, vacuuming, dusting, other cleaning." She looked over at him. "Why, what do you do at home?"

"The dishes every other day, mostly. And I take care of my own vacuuming and stuff." Pony felt embarrassed that he didn't do more.

"Well, here's a hint Pony. If you do more helping around the house for Soda and Darry, they'd probably stop treating you like such a little kid." Rae rinsed out the sink, and Pony went home and thought about what she said.


	5. St George's

**Chapter Four**

St. George's

Over the course of a month, Ponyboy and Rae became good friends, although sometimes Rae felt like a Johnny-substitute. She was close with Two-Bit, Steve, Soda and Darry too- they watched out for her, and she fed them in return.

On Pony's birthday, the boys decided to throw him a seventeenth birthday party, inviting most of the greasers that they knew. Kids from school, and even a car load of Socs, heard about it and showed up, but the Socs quickly left once they saw where they were.

Two-Bit had brought over a keg, and everyone was having a good time. Rae was only slightly buzzed, while mostly everyone else was drunk out of their minds, including Pony.

Rae stepped out onto the porch to get some fresh air when she spotted Ponyboy. She bent over him and gently nudged him with her foot, then kicked him. "Hey Pony, you alright kid?" He didn't even move.

She ran inside. "Soda, I need your truck." Rae couldn't tell if Soda was drunk or not.

"What? Why?" His arm was wrapped around a redhead's shoulder. The girl whispered something in his ear, but Soda impatiently pushed her away.

"Because!" Rae looked around anxiously, not wanting Darry to hear. "Pony's sick. I gotta get him to a hospital."

Soda shrugged. "Just hold his head while he pukes, and watch out for your shoes." The redhead laughed shrilly.

Rae was getting annoyed. "NO! It's bigger than that!" She spun around to find Darry standing right behind.

"Here, get him to a hospital. It might be alcohol poisoning. Soda will come too." Darry glared at his twenty year old brother. Rae could tell Darry was mad, and wanted to get out of there as soon as possible. She was a tad scared of him. Rae grabbed the keys and managed to drag Pony into the truck with Soda's help.

Once they arrived at St. George's Hospital, Rae grabbed Pony, who was semi-conscious, and got him to walk into the ER. As soon as he saw a chair he slumped down into it, and Rae hurried to a nurse that was at the reception area, while Soda stayed in the waiting room.

"Rae, what are you doing here? Are you alright?" Rae turned to see her mom standing in the hallway.

"Mom! Come help. I think my friend has alcohol poisoning." She led Tanya to Ponyboy's limp figure in the hard plastic chair.

"Jesus! Helen, we're going to need a room and a stomach pump." She called to the nurse at the desk. Just then Pony lost control of his stomach all over Rae's new boots. The two teens groaned simultaneously, and Soda stifled a giggle. "And a janitor."

Pony moaned as Tanya and the other nurse moved him into a wheelchair. Rae followed, not even stopping to wipe off her boots.

A while later Ponyboy woke up to a bright light shining in his eyes. "Pupils are receptive. It looks like he'll be just fine. You two probably saved him from a worse fate." Pony blinked and sat up, watching the doctor leave the room. He then felt a stinging slap across his face, followed by a gigantic hug.

"Ow!" he yelped, turning towards his attacker. "What was that for?" He asked rubbing his cheek as Rae moved away.

"Um, how about for scaring us half to death! Jesus Christ Ponyboy, how much did you have to drink?" Rae looked worried and tired, but tried back to hold back a smile, knowing how bad Pony's hangover would be the next day. Soda had fallen asleep in the chair next to her.

"I dunno…just…whatever people kept givin' me, I guess." His head hurt, his throat was sore and his stomach was queasy. "What time is it, anyway?"

Rae glanced at the clock on the wall. "About two in the morning. You've been here for an hour and a half. You had to get your stomach pumped, and you're probably still a little drunk. Oh, and they had to put in a catheter."

Ponyboy groaned. "I bet Darry's mad."

"And worried. And you didn't make a very good impression on my mom either." Rae grinned, but quickly turned her head to hide it.

Ponyboy looked around. "I didn't puke on her, did I?" he asked worriedly.

Rae laughed. "No, that was me." She swung her boots over beside him so he could see them.

Pony winced in spite of himself. "Geez, I'm a wreck, aren't I?" Rae nodded, and prodded Soda.

He woke up with a start. "Hey there Pepsi-Cola. How ya doin' kiddo?" He laughed, enjoying his brother's misery now that he was out of danger.

"Well, I am never going to drink again. I thought I had learned my lesson when I was thirteen, but I guess not." He swore under his breath, but it was loud enough for the nurse who was coming in the room to hear.

"Excuse me, young man?" The woman bore a striking resemblance to Rae, except for the hair and eyes. The nurse had dark eyes and dark hair, but both of their faces showed fatigue.

"Ponyboy Curtis, this is my mom Tanya. Mom, meet Ponyboy." Rae grinned, delighted in the embarrassment that Pony was feeling. His ears were practically glowing red.

"Ah, you were the one who brought us a cake? Yes…I remember you when you were twelve. You were Johnny's friend, right?" Pony ducked his head and nodded. Tanya, realizing she had said something wrong, looked at his chart. "Well, all I have to do is take out the catheter, and you can go home." She cast a meaningful glance at Rae and Soda, and they scurried out of the room as Tanya drew a curtain around his bed so the other patients couldn't see.

Tanya led Pony out of the room. "Ok, take care of him, because he might still have some alcohol in his bloodstream. Rae, I'm phoning the house at 3:30, so you better be there to pick up, or else." She hugged her daughter, then looked at her boots. "And don't go tramping all over in those."


	6. The Aftermath

(Disclaimer- I own Rae, Tanya and any other minor characters, plus the plot. I'm not S.E. Hinton. I suppose that covers it.)

AN- Sorry for the lack of updates- I just had exam week!

**Chapter 5**

The Aftermath

Soda was in his own little world as he drove home. Rae fell asleep twice against Ponyboy, only waking up when he elbowed her in the ribs.

"Ouch! Quit it!" Rae cried out as he did it for a third time.

Ponyboy looked down on her. "But you're getting drool all over my new jacket."

Rae laughed. "Um, ya. You blew chunks all over my boots, so a little drool isn't going to hurt you." Ponyboy grimaced in defeat as Soda pulled into the driveway. All the cars were gone except for Two-Bit's old hunk of junk, and Steve's truck.

"Yay, all the boys are here to see Darry murder me." Ponyboy muttered as he hopped out of the Ford.

"Darry ain't gonna do nothing to ya kid. I'll make sure of that." Soda had stopped a fair few fights between them, but they were few and far between compared to how they used to be. He slung his arm across his little brother's shoulders, then gently shoved him and ran up the steps and into the house, leaving Rae and Ponyboy all alone.

"If you want," Rae began, but interrupted herself with a big yawn. "I could stick around and help clean up or whatever." Ponyboy shook his head.

"No, I don't want Darry yelling at you. Besides, you're about ready to drop dead. You should go to bed."

Rae shrugged. "Alright." She then awkwardly pulled him into a hug. "Happy Birthday Pony."

Pony was startled but hugged back. "Thanks for everything. See ya."

Rae chuckled. "No problem. Bye." She turned and lazily walked home.

Pony sighed as he walked up to the door. To his surprise, Darry didn't come running out of the kitchen. Two-Bit and Steve were in the living room, playing cards quietly. "What's going on?" Pony asked cautiously, sitting beside Two-Bit on the couch.

"Soda's talking to Darry, trying to calm him down before he comes in here." Steve replied, tossing down his cards in triumph. Two-Bit cursed.

"Why didn't Darry come with me to the hospital?" Pony watched as Two-Bit stole the poker chips from under Steve's nose.

"Do think that Darry would risk something happening to the house? Man, all of us were wasted, he couldn't leave us alone." Steve pulled his chips back from Two-Bit, and Two-Bit hit him on the shoulder.

Darry walked out of the kitchen, and motioned for Ponyboy to come with him. The two brothers sat at the dinner table, while Soda stood and watched over them like a mother hound. "Pony, I'm not going to yell at you. But I have to punish you. I can't let you run around, getting so drunk that you almost die. I'm grounding you for a month, and you have to work at DX until you work off that medical bill. So you go to school, then to work, then home. No seeing Rae outside of school, no movies, no walks. You can't watch T.V. or talk on the phone. Got it?"

Pony's eyes widened. "A month! You've got to be kidding." Ponyboy wasn't very heart broken over the no T.V.- he'd rather read any day. But going for walks after supper to walk the sunset was his savior. And how could Darry take away his only friend?

Darry shook his head, but looked sort of apologetic. "Sorry kiddo. That's the consequences. You could have been seriously hurt. We didn't want to lose you like we lost Mom and Dad…" he trailed off, but Pony knew that he was thinking about Darry and Johnny too.

"Alright, I'm going to bed." He hugged his brothers, and wandered off to his room, waving at Steve and Two-Bit wrestling on the carpet.

Once in his room, Pony quickly scrawled a note and stuck it on his pillow incase Darry came to check on him. Then he opened up his window and slipped out, knowing that he had to talk to someone before he blew up.

Rae had gotten on her pajamas and was in all settled in her bed for a little reading. Her buzz had subsided over three hours and a few naps, so she easily slipped into her mystery novel. She was half-way through the most suspenseful part when she heard a shuffle outside her window.

"Oh calm down Rae, it's just your imagination." She scolded herself out loud. Then there was a knock on the window and Rae shrieked.

"Rae?" a muffled voice questioned through the window.

The spooked teen hopped out of bed and cautiously went to the window, building up the courage to rip back the drapes. Ponyboy stood there, waiting for her to open the window.

"Pony, what the hell are you doing here?" Rae asked after opening the window. Pony pulled himself through the small opening and fell on the floor.

"Hello Rae, nice to see you too. Darry grounded me and I didn't feel much like yelling at him, so I decided to come over here to cool off." He propped himself up on his elbows. "Is that ok?"

Rae half smiled, half glared at him, making her face somewhat contorted. "I'm going to get you a sandwich, it'll sober you up." she laughed at her friend. "Come on. Do you like peanut butter?" she left the room and walked the short distance to the kitchen.

"You bet! Do you have any chocolate milk?" He followed her, stumbling over the clothes she had strewn all over her room.

Rae turned. "Are you a chocoholic kid? Man, not even I eat chocolate as much as you do, and I'm a girl."

Ponyboy shrugged. "Well, I prefer Pepsi, but I figure milk's healthier." He jumped up and touched the kitchen doorway.

Rae laughed again, not used to seeing Pony so happy and upbeat. "Man, you are gonna need a few sandwiches."

Pony plopped on the kitchen table while Rae rummaged around the cupboards, grabbing milk, bread and peanut butter. She quickly threw together a sandwich and tossed it at Ponyboy. He caught it in one hand and tore off a big chunk.

"Mfff phagd yulf bpuds". he tried to tell Rae, bits of bread flying out of his mouth.

Rae's eyebrows rose. "What?"

Pony gulped down half of his milk. "I said 'I'm sorry about your boots'."

Rae smiled mischievously. "Speaking of which, once you're done your sandwich, I have a job for you." She pointed to her new black leather boots standing on a towel by the bathroom door.

Pony groaned. "Elch. Man, I swore that I'd never touch the stuff."

Rae sat next to him on the table, a glass of milk in her hand. "Then why did you?"

Pony sighed. "I don't know. I just, wanted to see what it was like. I mean, Two-Bit's happy all the time and he's soused all the time, so I figured that I might lighten up a bit." He lit up a cigarette and inhaled. "I mean, why did you drink."

Rae shrugged. "Same reason I guess. I mean, I started to drink when I was 13 because everyone did. I had the self-control to not let it get out of hand though." She pulled the cigarette from his lips and stuck it between hers. "So, do you wanna clean those boots now?" She took a few puffs and handed it back to him.

Pony swallowed the last of his sandwich. "I guess." He grabbed them and stuck them beside the kitchen sink, which he began to fill up with water.

"Make sure you don't get them all wet. I paid good money for them, I don't want them to shrink." Rae got up, switched on the radio and began to dance to The Immigrant Song (by Led Zepplin) and ended up singing along to it, forgetting Pony was in the room.

Pony started laughing as he watched his friend dance all over the place. When the song was over she flopped on the couch. Pony snuck up on her and popped his head over the arm of the couch. "Are you alright?"

Rae shrieked and fell off the couch. "Goddamn! I forgot you were here. I was dancing and singing, wasn't I." Pony laughed and nodded. "Oh god. I am so sorry."

"Don't be. It was very entertaining, after I realized you weren't having some sort of fit." He leaned over and grabbed her arm to pull her off the ground.

"Thanks." She smiled but groaned when the phone rang, then looked at her watch. "Yay, it's mommy." She muttered sarcastically.

"Hello? I have five minutes you know. Mhmm. Ya, well he's over here now, so he and Darry don't get into a fight. MOM! GROSS! I so didn't need to know that. You're disgusting." She turned bright red as she swiveled to look at Pony, giggled and looked back at the wall.

"Hey, let me talk to her for a second, please." Pony cried and grabbed for the phone. Rae turned, wrapping the cord around her, to keep it out of his reach.

"Just a sec mom, Pony wants to take to you. Alright, love you too. Night." Rae handed her slightly inebriated friend the phone.

"Hi Tanya. I'm sorry- yah. I just cleaned them. Well, she told me hoe to do it, then had a Led-out." Pony laughed, then started to cough. "Ew, she's my friend. Ok, bye." Pony hung up the phone, but found that Rae was still tangled in the cord.

Eventually she worked herself loose, after getting the cord in her hair a few times, and dangerously tight around her neck. "Death by telephone. It could only happen to me." She said, finally hanging up the receiver. Rae yawned so wide that Pony heard her jaw crack.

"I better go home, you need some sleep. I don't want to keep you up all night." Rae yawned again and nodded.

"K, but go through the front door this time." She unlocked the deadbolts and security chains, and let him out. Then she locked herself in again and headed to bed.


End file.
